Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble Ignores Musical Borders In ‘The Music of Strangers’

Early on in the 2015 documentary The Music of Strangers, the world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma says “I’m always trying to figure out at some level who I am and how I fit in the world, which is something I think I share with 7 billion other people.” That search for both self-identity and global commonality lies at the heart of the film, which explores the history and personal stories of the members of The Silk Road Ensemble. Formed by the cellist in 1998 as part of arts collective, the group takes its name from the legendary road that connected Europe to Asia and brings together master musicians from around the globe.

Released in 2015, The Music of Strangers was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Music Film category, and premiered on HBO last night, where it can now be watched on any of the network’s streaming services. It was directed by Morgan Neville, who also did the Academy Award winning 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, and the recent Netflix Original documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence. The film’s lush cinematography is as beautiful as any of the music being played, and Neville knows how coax a story out of his subjects which tells a bigger story than the usual musician’s anecdotes.

Much like his multi-cultural ensemble, which includes a rotating cast of members from diverse backgrounds, Yo-Yo Ma’s story is one of pluralities. Born in Paris to Chinese parents, who were musicians themselves, he was a child prodigy, and began performing for audiences at the age of five. He is seen playing for President John F. Kennedy at the age of seven, where he is introduced as “A Chinese cellist playing old French music for his new American compatriots.” In all honesty, I knew very little of him prior to watching the movie; however, he is immediately likable, self-deprecating in public and tempered and thoughtful in private.

Much like their bandleader, the select members of the Silk Road Ensemble profiled in The Music of Strangers live in-between the traditions of their homelands and the nomadic existence of the professional musician. Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh is a Syrian, now living in New York. Celebrated pipa player Wu Man came of age in post-Cultural Revolution China but now lives in the United States as well. Kayhan Kalhor is a legendary Iranian Kamancheh player, now living the life of an exile. “Explosive” bagpiper Cristina Pato hails from Galicia in North Western Spain, but spends most of her time away from home playing music. Their lives are those of the immigrant and in some cases the refugee, rendering them strangers both at home and abroad, an existence which carries a new weight to it in today’s political climate.

Though he’s been performing music for over 50 years, Yo-Yo Ma says “I never committed to being a musicians. I fell into it.” Influenced by composer Leonard Bernstein’s Harvard lectures about his search for a universal musical language, and a trip to Africa where singers in the Kalahari dessert told him music gives us meaning, he formed the not-for-profit Silk Road organization to “explore how the arts can advance global understanding.” While the greater group does outreach and works with schools, the Silk Road Ensemble is the artistic manifestation of its ethos, playing music that incorporates a tapestry of different ethnic influences.

The term “World Music” often carries with it negative connotations of hippies playing hacky sack while listening to reggae and the odd Ravi Shankar record. In fact, most regions of the world have their own traditional classical music, which is as disciplined and developed as any found in the West. Interestingly, the Silk Road Ensemble suffered criticism for being both too slavishly traditional, and for diluting indigenous music styles with their polyglot approach. If there is a valid criticism to be made of the group, it is that while their music is often hauntingly beautiful, it often falls prey to the world music cliché of alternating between mournful drones and ecstatic rave-ups.

Like one of those drones, The Music of Strangers gently meanders from one subject and location to another. It’s a meditative approach that keeps pondering and wrestling with the movie’s themes of self, home and tradition. The musicians of the Silk Road Ensemble treasure the musical tradition of their homeland, yet know that in many cases, they’re dying out. They will only survive if they can evolve and adapt to an ever changing world. Likewise, the musicians themselves yearn for the home they remember, but which often times no longer exists, due to economic pressures, politics and war.

While The Music of Strangers doesn’t beat you over the head with its political message, the group’s mission and even their very existence, is a political act. As so many retreat these days into the tribal identities of nationalism and ethnicity, the music of the Silk Road Ensemble sees no borders. As Wu Man says “There’s no east or west. It’s just a globe.”

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Watch The Music Of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble on HBO Go